Fraudulent emails cost businesses millions per year

‘Whaling’ – the new business email scam that targets senior executives

If you received an email from your CEO, requesting confidential or financial information, would you send it? Most would. Especially, if it’s the kind of information he/she would normally request from you.

But what if that email was never sent by your boss, but by a fraudster on the other side of the world?

According to a recently published post by Panda Security, the practice of ‘whaling’ is increasing and is currently estimated to cost businesses over 2 million dollars per year.

The general advice when dealing with requests for sensitive or private information is to double check, in person or by phone, with the respondent to ensure that the request is genuine, and to consider carefully both the origin of the emails you receive as well as any attachment/links, before clicking on them.